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Artemis I : Orion rentre sur Terre après son voyage historique vers la Lune
news.movim.eu / JournalDuGeek · Monday, 12 December, 2022 - 13:30
Et cette grande aventure qu'est le programme Artemis ne fait que commencer !
Artemis I : Orion rentre sur Terre après son voyage historique vers la Lune
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Artemis I : la capsule Orion approche d’une étape critique de la mission
news.movim.eu / JournalDuGeek · Friday, 9 December, 2022 - 17:30
Enjeux, horaires... voici comment va se dérouler le retour sur Terre de la capsule Orion.
Artemis I : la capsule Orion approche d’une étape critique de la mission
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NASA’s Orion spacecraft is about to face its final test—and it’s a big one
news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Friday, 9 December, 2022 - 14:27
Enlarge / Orion flew by the Moon on Monday as it prepared to return to Earth. (credit: NASA)
NASA's Artemis I mission is nearly complete, and so far Orion's daring flight far beyond the Moon has gone about as well as the space agency could hope. However, to get a passing grade, the mission must still ace its final test.
This final exam will come on Sunday, when the spacecraft starts to enter Earth's atmosphere at 12:20 pm ET (17:20 UTC). During the course of the next 20 minutes, before Orion splashes down in the Pacific Ocean off of Mexico's Baja Peninsula, it will need to slow down from a velocity of Mach 32 to, essentially, zero before dropping into the water.
This is no small feat. Orion has a mass of 9 metric tons, about the same as two or three large elephants. Its base, covered with a heat shield designed to slowly char away during passage through Earth's atmosphere, must withstand temperatures near 3,000 degrees Celsius.
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After lunar flyby, NASA’s Orion spacecraft is set to splash down on Sunday
news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 6 December, 2022 - 14:38
Enlarge / Orion, the Moon, and a crescent Earth on Monday. (credit: NASA)
The Orion spacecraft swung by the Moon on Monday, flying to within 130 km of that world's surface as it set course for a return to Earth this weekend.
In making this "powered flyby burn" to move away from the Moon, Orion's service module performed its longest main engine firing to date, lasting 3 minutes and 27 seconds. After successful completion of the maneuver, NASA's mission management team gave the "go" to send recovery teams out into the Pacific Ocean, where Orion is due to splashdown on Sunday, during the middle of the day.
By getting into an orbit around the Moon, and back out of it again during its deep space mission, Orion has now completed four main propulsive burns. This completes a big test of the spacecraft and its propulsive service module, which was built by the European Space Agency. Although a boilerplate version of Orion made a flight in 2014, it did so without a service module.
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After the Artemis I mission’s brilliant success, why is an encore 2 years away?
news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Monday, 5 December, 2022 - 12:00
Enlarge / Orion, the Earth, and the Moon, captured during the Artemis I mission. (credit: NASA)
The launch of the Artemis I mission in mid-November was spectacular, and NASA's Orion spacecraft has performed nearly flawlessly ever since. If all goes as anticipated—and there is no reason to believe it won't—Orion will splash down in calm seas off the California coast this weekend.
This exploration mission has provided dazzling photos of Earth and the Moon and offered a promise that humans will soon fly in deep space again. So the question for NASA, then, is when can we expect an encore?
Realistically, a follow-up to Artemis I is probably at least two years away. Most likely, the Artemis II mission will not happen before early 2025, although NASA is not giving up hope on launching humans into deep space in 2024.
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Orion flies far beyond the Moon, returns an instantly iconic photo
news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 29 November, 2022 - 13:42
Enlarge / Orion, the Moon, and Earth in one photo. (credit: NASA)
NASA's Orion spacecraft reached the farthest outbound point in its journey from Earth on Monday, a distance of more than 430,000 km from humanity's home world. This is nearly double the distance between Earth and the Moon and is farther than the Apollo capsule traveled during NASA's lunar missions in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
From this vantage point, on Monday, a camera attached to the solar panels on board Orion's service module snapped photos of the Moon and, just beyond, the Earth. These were lovely, lonely, and evocative images.
"The imagery was crazy," said the Artemis I mission's lead flight director, Rick LaBrode. "It’s really hard to articulate what the feeling is. It’s really amazing to be here, and see that."
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Artemis I : la capsule Orion bat le record de distance d’Apollo 13
news.movim.eu / JournalDuGeek · Monday, 28 November, 2022 - 17:30
« Houston, nous avons un nouveau record ! »
Artemis I : la capsule Orion bat le record de distance d’Apollo 13
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Artemis I : pourquoi les dernières images de la Lune sont-elles moches ?
news.movim.eu / JournalDuGeek · Friday, 25 November, 2022 - 17:30
La NASA a publié les premières images de la Lune capturées par la capsule Orion. Esthétiquement parlant, elles sont un peu décevantes, mais il y a une bonne raison.
Artemis I : pourquoi les dernières images de la Lune sont-elles moches ?
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Orion soars around the Moon with a lonely Earth in the distance
news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Monday, 21 November, 2022 - 16:13
Enlarge / This image taken by NASA's Orion spacecraft shows its view just before the vehicle flew behind the Moon. (credit: NASA)
NASA's Orion spacecraft flew to within 130 km of the Moon's surface on Monday morning after executing one of the most demanding maneuvers of its 25-day mission.
Since launching on top of the Space Launch System rocket last Wednesday, Orion's European Service Module had conducted four "trajectory correction burns" on the way to the Moon. These were brief firings of the service module's main engine, an Aerojet-built AJ10 engine. However, the propulsion system faced a stiffer test on Monday as part of a maneuver to enter orbit around the Moon. It passed with flying colors.
The AJ10 engine burned for 2 minutes and 30 seconds as Orion passed behind the Moon, out of contact with NASA back on Earth. When Orion reemerged from the lunar shadow, all was well, and the spacecraft was positioned to reach its temporary destination—a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon.
